Butterflies and Blooms for Mixed Media Monthly

Hello all and Happy May!! Well, the r is out of the month, but what about the lovely warm weather that's supposed to come with Spring???

Anyway, this month at Mixed Media Monthly our theme is Butterflies and Blooms, and this is what I made:

Here is the graphic of our challenge, if you are going to join us, make sure to add it to your post.

Our sponsor this month is the wonderful Ken Oliver!!

The prize is a set of Color Burst Caribean Brights and a Best Ever Craft Mat!! So if you like the Color Bursts make sure to join!!

Onto my project, - it's a little altered file folder with space for 4 tags inside.

For this particular one, I snipped off the tabs at the side. I folded it accordion style and created pockets by folding up the bottom of the folder and gluing down the sides on the ends and the fold lines.
Here is the front.

All I did was ink the edges and then played with some pretty papers and stamps. I'll show you a few details so you can see how I went about it.

I used some papers of the pretty Prima Butterfly collection by Jodi Lee. I cut the  paper to size,  added some stenciling, a butterfly die-cut and a Tim Holtz metal word band for the cover..

Here is the inside, using further papers, stamping in matching colours, subtle stencilling and some embellishments.

Panel 1 close up

Panel 2, - I tried to find stamps that would match the paper elements.

Panel 3 with subtle stamping to match the mood of the papers.

Panel 4, more of the same.

Below the panels on the back:

As you can hopefully see, I used some dyed seam binding ribbon underneath the papers so the folder can be tied shut.

All the elements on this one are cut from the paper line.

The little tags that go inside the pockets were all part of the paper collection too.

Well, that's pretty much it. A simple project that could make a great gift for a friend, with inspirational quotes written on the tags.

Thank you for visiting today, and don't forget to visit Mixed Media Monthly, where you can see some stunning projects from my team mates, get all the details about our challenge and of course we would love it if you play along.

Thanks for your visit today!

xxx

Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey

Hello all and happy Friday! It's the 5th Friday in April and that means we are having tag Friday over at A Vintage Journey. Several design team members are sharing tags today, so do go and check them out!!

I used two size 10 tags to create this project, because I wanted to use one of my Tim Holtz mixed media dies and have the bottom tag peep through. I had a specific purpose in mind for this tag, as you will see in a moment. I'll give you a quick run through of how I got there..

I started with adding some Grunge Paste through a stencil. I am sorry, unfortunately I don't know the maker of this particular one... I also added some Finnabair Clear Crackle paste to various corners.

Next I cut with one of the mixed media dies and then added colour with the help of Distress Paint and spray in Antique Linen and various colours of the new Distress Crayons, - Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso.

I really should have cut the die first, as |I wanted it in this particular corner, I had to turn the tag over before cutting, giving me a less crisp cut on the front, - ah well, live and learn....

Next I worked on the second tag, covering it with tissue wrap and then adding similar colours of Distress product. I also added some tissue tape to have some more text showing.

Time to gather some embellishments, various Ideaology pieces and some cut out stamped images. Like usual I gathered some more as I was putting my tag together as you can see below.

And here you can see the tag all layered up. I added the little globe die cut still, a gift from my lovely teamy Julie. I offset the two explore die cuts to create a kind of shadow effects and also added some background stamping, some remnant rubs and shadows to bring it all alive.

Now, what is the tag for you may ask? Well, to become part of the cover of one of my sketchbooks, a lovely Moleskine one that is just the right size and had become really grubby so it needed a make over.

I covered the front with a layer of extra thick gesso, not worrying about the inner part that was going to be covered anyway.

I added some texture around the edges by pouncing a pallet knife while the gesso was still wet. I love the stucco effect you get with that.

I then coloured it with Acrylic paint and adhered the tag in the center, and voilà.

As you can see, the tag is the perfect size for this sketchbook. Here are some close ups still:

Both the metal element and the number 14 were coloured and distressed with Distress Crayons, they are great for that, much quicker and easier than either paint or alcohol ink, and once they are heat set they are permanent.

The words in red were all stamped using a very old Tim Holtz stamp, Photo Studio, I stamped them in Maroon Red Archival.

Below finally is the back of the sketchbook:

I had this bit of rice paper with the vintage car on it that I adhered to the back cover. I then blended it into the background with the help of some Distress paint and crayons, finally I stamped around the edges using part of a La Blanche stamp.

Well, that's it for now. Hope you will take a look at the amazing tags my teamies have created, no shortage of inspiration. Meanwhile, thank you for visiting here and have a great weekend!

xxx

Happy Earthday and safe travels

Hello dear friends! As many of you will know it's earth day today, the day when we celebrate the beauty and tranquility of our beautiful planet. So I wanted to wish you all Happy Earthday by sharing this card created as a card to wish friends safe travels.

We all know how much our beautiful earth, and the creatures that live upon it, are under threat, from environmental onslaughts, from terrorists and wars to name but a few. I think Earthday is perfect to bring greater awareness to these problems and to call on each of us to make responsible decisions.

OK, enough philosophy, onto my card:

I have no step by step photos, but will give you a quick run through the details. As you can see there are quite a few layers. I wanted a shabby grungy feel to this card so distressed the layers.
A piece of 7 x 7 scrapbook paper was treated with gesso, inks splatters and background stamping.

The globe was cut from metallic card, run through a Tim Holtz embossing folder and then coloured with some Alcohol Inks.

This layer was created with a piece of torn watercolour paper run through the same embossing folder and then I added some scraps of the top layer of a paper serviette with collage medium.

The top right corner needed something to balance out the other embellishment, it's a resin crown (I think from Prima?) I have had in my stash since ages.

A shabby Petaloo flower, some ribbon, twine and foliage and two little labels to wish my friends safe travels.

And that was pretty much it. I don't enter challenges very often, but as this one fits the Earthday challenge over at Anything but Cute, I thought I would add it there.

Thank you for your visit like always and HAPPY EARTHDAY!!!

You are the source of all change on the planet. If you tend to your internal peace

You're tending to Peace on Earth

                                               Panache Desai

A birthday card for little A

Hello lovely visitors, I hope you are all keeping well!
A super quick post from me today, just to share a birthday card I did for one of my grand daughters who will turn two soon.

Just a quick word of explanation: little Arielle loves her food, she also loves chickens, so with that in mind I put this card together. Also in Australia where she lives it is now Autumn, so that's the reason for the rather Autumnal colours.
Here is the inside:

The stamps I used are by Sheena Douglas, the papers and dies are mostly Heartfelt Creations.

I coloured the stamp with Derwent Inktense pencils and blended with a Dove Blender pen, which worked brilliantly, so I was very pleased with that discovery. Arielle has a little red rain suit just like the child in the foreground is wearing, and her sister Lucia has a coat not unlike the blue one the other child has on.

The birthday greeting is on the other side of the tag which is only adhered up to the fold line.

The card closes with a little flap and a little round velcro fastener. And for once, though I don't usually share family photos, here is a photo of her taken a few weeks ago.

Well that's it for now, thanks for your visit like usual and I hope you are having a good week.
xxx

Destination Inspiration at a Vintage Journey

Hello all and here we are, the start of a new week already again... April is just flying by.

Today it is my turn to share a so called "Destination Inspiration" piece over at A Vintage Journey.
Here is just a little snippet of the full project:

If you want to see more, just click HERE.

I had great fun putting this together and there are full how to instructions over there.

Like always, thanks for your visit today and I'll be back with a full project over here soon.

Have a happy week!

xxx

Altered folder for Shimmerz

Hello all, thanks for dropping in. Today is just a preview day I am sorry to say. If you want to see the full project, please hop over to the Shimmerz Blog.

Three guesses how this project started..... Well, if you want to know for sure, - you'll just have to hop over. Hope to see you there and thanks for dropping by here too!

xxx